On The Frontline
by Certifiably-Mad
Summary: She told him about her mission the day before it took place, curled together on the small couch in her living room. Snake was drawing aimless on her arm - but then, he was prone to do that. Renegades verse, secretly married SnakeScar AU. T for safety. This is all Kusari's fault.
1. The Descent

**A/N: To be honest I only really wrote this because Kusari wanted me too. And I marathoned Renegades. I don't really know where this is going to end up, but it'll probably just be drabbles about the adventures of secretly married SnakeScar. It'll be great, trust me. I'm a scientist. (Side note: if there's anything you'd like to see? Drop a review or a message, I'm way open to suggestions! u v u)**

* * *

She told him about her mission the day before it took place, curled together on the small couch in her living room. Snake was drawing aimlessly on her arm - but then, he was prone to do that.

"I'm sure you'll show up?" she asked, a quirk in her eyebrow, the small teasing grin he'd fallen in love with crossing her cheeks.

[Of course,] he signed quickly, [Anything for you.]

And his hands were back on hers, tracing around her wrist, on the back of her hand, in between her fingers...

He took her hand, almost reverently, and kissed her knuckles, just above where her ring sat.

"I love you too," she murmured.

Needless to say, the mission had not gone according to plan - any of them. They had at least 3 cover stories, and none of them worked out. Honestly, in Shana's - now Scarlett, much to her annoyance - mind, the only thing that had gone in accordance to what should be was Snake Eyes' appearance. She was behind a desk of some sort, her head hurt, and...lasers?...were being fired around her.

Newly-dubbed Tunnel Rat had noticed the same, exclaiming, "Lasers?! Where did they get lasers?!"

Corporal Hinton announced he was out, and when Duke started to comment on it, Shana - well, the only word she had for it was felt. She'd developed a sense of when Snake Eyes appeared shortly after they'd become acquainted, and it had only strengthened in time. A quick look over their makeshift barricade proved her correct - her ninja was doing what he did best.

That is to say, he was going through those guards like a pack of wild hogs.

"Snake Eyes is with me."

* * *

Later - _much _later - with Roadblock at the wheel and the others sacked out in their chairs, Springfield far behind them, Shana (Scarlett, she was Scarlett now) made her way to the back of the truck. He was meditating, right where she'd left him. Of course he was.

But when she entered the storage area, he looked up at her almost instantaneously. She sat on a bench, and Snake Eyes had materialized next to her.  
To be frank, it had taken a lot to get used to but the redhead managed as best she could.

"I'm- I'm okay," she answered the unspoken question even before he raised his hands, "My leg's fine - I'll be fine."  
[Shana-]  
"I'm _fine_, Snake."

It was silent for a moment - not their usual silence, when they were still communicating, but a still silence. Contemplative.

She'd gotten very good at reading the literal air in the past few months.

"I think we should keep it a secret," Scarlett said in a rush, looking at her hands. She felt the ninja next to her tense, his hands raising to form a defense -  
"If anyone finds out, we can be used against each other - I don't want to put you in that position, Snake Eyes."

He looked away - she felt his gaze tear away from her - but the redhead finally looked up when he raised his hands.

[...Nor I you,] he admitted with a sigh, [The other - Joes - as well?]  
"The less people who know…"  
[Of course…] his fingers remained on the back of his hand for a moment after before peeling off the glove of his left hand, studying the sturdy ring there contemplatively.

Scarlett reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and held the matching piece in her palm. She always took it off before a mission - if anything happened in combat and it was damaged or lost...  
"Can you even notice them under our gloves?" she wondered aloud, feeling almost petulant about removing her wedding ring. It was too important. _He _was too important.  
[I believe mine is unnoticeable.]

Scarlett gestured with her free hand and he put his glove back on. His wife studied for a long moment and declared it fine to her.  
"I'm only used to looking for it," she explained. They repeated the process for Scarlett, with her semi-fingerless gloves. It stuck out a little more - with the jewels and all - but she was a little desperate to keep it on. Even if it had been her idea…

[I am only used to looking for it,] he signed, and the mask crinkled a little when he smiled with it.

She smiled at his hands, and when she let her gaze drop to her own, Scarlett felt very tired all of the sudden. She leaned against his shoulder, the red in her hair clashing against his clan symbol.  
[I believe it is time for you to sleep…]  
"I don't-" she was cut off by her own yawn - "drive tonight."  
[Then…]

He tugged the sleeping bag they'd purchased a few hours ago free of it's storage under the bench they were on and started to spread it out on the floor. With minor flourish, Snake Eyes presented the prepared sleeping space to her. Scarlett smiled again and captured his hand to pull him down with her.  
"No pillows. You'll have to do."  
[I thought we were being secretive.]  
"They're too scared of you to look back here."

He laughed his silent pant-laugh and allowed her to curl around him. To tell the truth, neither were quite sure how well they would sleep without the other there. Shana and Snake Eyes - they had only been married for a few months before this, but they were so accustomed to the other that the thought of not sleeping by each other...unacceptable.

In the morning, they were all business. Scarlett looking into Cobra's activities, Snake Eyes disappearing and reappearing with small game whenever they stopped for food - the pair slipped easily into a purely-platonic partnership.

* * *

**A/N: ...yeees. I don't know. Thanks for reading. Review, maybe? ;D**


	2. Best Laid Plans

**A/N: Ask and ye shall receive. Totenkinder wanted to see Snakes reaction to Scarlett's *brilliant* costume.**

* * *

Even if he'd been fully briefed on the plan, the knee-jerk reaction would still be present. Seeing Scarlett...scratch that, seeing his wife...even presenting to be pregnant was shocking.

They hadn't talked about it. Obviously they hadn't talked about it, being on the run for the majority of their marriage by this point. He could count on one hand the amount of time she would have had a chance at becoming pregnant, and she was on a birth control regimen…

But regardless, he wouldn't say that the thought hadn't crossed his mind. Of course it had. Having been without a true family of his own for most of his life - and then losing the one the Arashikage had been for him, however briefly - did give him a certain...fixation...on having children with Shana. But that was a subject for another day - they had time. They had plenty of time.

Apparently, that day was today, because he arrived on scene from sentry duty to see her fixing the sleeve of her oversized shirt to show the...neon green?...bra strap. He didn't know what was underneath it to make her appear pregnant - it didn't look lumpy, but then, Scarlett was a master with appearing how she wanted to. A necessity as an Intel agent.  
"What do you think, Snake?" she asked, grinning a truly wicked grin, "White trash enough?"  
All he could do was shake his head. This was so wrong. On so many levels.

* * *

"What are you gonna name the baby?"

Duke thought he was being funny, the other guys laughed, but Scarlett just rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat.

There was a clear snapping from the back and everyone swiveled to look at the ninja who was obviously wanting their attention.  
[I thought we agreed I could pick the name.]  
The others, of course, didn't know ASL well enough to have the faintest clue as to what he was talking about, but Scarlett did. And she just reddened at his signs, turning back and firmly planting her back against the passenger seat of the Coyote. Tunnel Rat raised an eyebrow, but Snake only smirked. It wasn't everyday that he managed to get that sort of a blush out of the unflappable Shana O'Hara.

* * *

**A/N: Snake Eyes is actually a ****_giant brat_****. Thanks for reading, maybe drop a review? **


	3. Adrenaline

**A/N: So I got a notification from this story this morning, and I went into my folder for it on google drive to see if I could maybe come up with something. Much to my surprise, I had two half finished chapters. So I finished this one over the course of the day, and I'll probably work on the second one tomorrow! Y'all are gonna get spoiled or something, I never work on fanfiction this much. **

* * *

When he saw Shana's eyes glazed over, smiling vacantly at him, his heart almost stopped.

"Snake Eyes," she said, reaching up to remove his visor, "Don't fight it."  
With a flash of brilliance, the ninja knew his course of action. He felt the barest trace of guilt of abandoning Tunnel Rat like this when his visor was replaced, but then, he was a ninja. Ninjas did these sorts of things.

But even a ninja - or maybe it was especially _this_ ninja - found himself a little unnerved that the only time his wife would or could touch him this intimately was when she was hypnotized. Closing his eyes now would show that he wasn't truly under the spell, but he wanted nothing more than to fall into the feeling of Shana's hands on him.

Behind him, he heard Nikki calling to him, and when he turned around (visor in place), he wasn't completely faking being that slow. Shana...she had always had that effect on him.

* * *

After breaking the small Asian man out of the cell the brothers were keeping him in, Tunnel Rat started talking strategy. Snake Eyes would nod or make comments on a small pad of paper until they had something of a plan hammered out and were waiting outside the temple. Listening.

The Brothers' voices carried surprisingly well.

"Soon, we will have the means to spread our faith worldwide!"

Those words seemed to surge Tunnel Rat into action, and he kicked the door in with a, "Not in this lifetime!"

All eyes were on him, and he just motioned forward with his head.

"Clear a path, Snakes!"

Tomax and Xamot were ordering something - for their new 'Crimson Guard' to attack - and Snake Eyes had to put himself in a different mindset. _This is not Shana, this is not Shana, this is not Shana…_

He was able to keep the mantra up until he was looking her directly in her vacant eyes. When he slammed the butt of his hijacked spear into her midsection, his stopped heart almost broke at her cry of pain. Far off in front of him, Tunnel Rat was scaling the statue, and suddenly, the mesmerizing light was gone. Instinctively, his eyes went to Shana. Still dazed. Still hypnotised.

"Snap out of it, big guy!" Tunnel Rat was pleading to Roadblock, effectively voicing Snakes thoughts for him, "The light can't mesmerize you anymore."

Somehow, the two men wound up back to back. T-Rat was talking about splitting the twins up; weakening their power. The plan held weight, and they sprung into action. Literally sprung, in Snake Eyes' case, when he jumped over the masses to bring Roadblock down. But Shana was behind him - everything he'd been trained in said he should have done more than trip her, but nothing in him would allow that.

He continued to keep them occupied, but Duke had charged Tunnel Rat, and was throwing him in between the twins -  
...And then the blonde squad leader tackled one. Tunnel Rat booted the other across the room. People were starting to come out of their brainwashed daze -

"Snake Eyes…?" Shana asked, holding her head, stumbling toward the ninja, who caught her expertly, "What - happened?"

All he could do was rub her back. _It's okay, everything's okay…_

She seemed to get the message, leaning her head against his neck.

* * *

That night, she disappeared into the darkness behind the Coyote. He was expecting her, almost, taking his dear sweet time getting the bike ready. When Snake Eyes lifted his hands at her, she silenced them with a nod. The redhead was still a few steps away from the bike when her husband mounted it, and she climbed behind him, donning the extra helmet they'd picked up and wrapping her arms around his waist tightly.

He felt her face pressed against his back - as much as it could be, behind the helmet - and the trembling in her shoulders and the tightness of her grip on his jacket.

"Drive," she said, her voice muffled by the leather.

Who was he to argue?

* * *

Six miles in, he knew something was wrong.

_Shana? Shana, please talk to me...Shana, I can't ask you what's wrong, please, please tell me…_

When he started to pull over into the shaded area behind a billboard, she was trembling. He pulled in behind it and cut the engine, pausing only to pull her off with him after he dismounted. The redhead didn't argue, only pressing in closer to him. The ninja sunk down on the ground next to one of the posts for the billboard, leaning against it as he held her.

"A-A-Adrenaline releas-se," she stammered, "I could- I could h-have-"

Without a voice, and with his hands more importantly occupied, he was limited in options for stopping that train of thought before it got too dangerous. Moving his hands for a lengthy message in sign that would likely go unseen in the darkness was unacceptable, but moving a single hand to jerk his mask up just enough so he could kiss his wife...less so.

She sighed against him - still trembling, still clutching at his shoulders a little more desperately than he would have preferred - but the tension was starting to go out of her body. Snake Eyes pulled back, and for the second time that day, Shana removed his visor for him. But this time, when she let her hands linger, he could rest his hands at the base of her head, pull her closer to him, and trace circles just behind her ears with his thumbs.

Her heart was starting to slow back down, and her breathing was returning closer to normal. They were going to be okay.

"Oh my God- oh my God, those - they - they took my ring-"

She'd just realized that it was gone, not returned to her finger after the mission was done, and she felt his under his glove and if she lost that ring, she wouldn't know what to do. It was too important. _He_ was too important.

Now he'd pulled his hands back - in disgust, she thinks for a moment, that not even a year after their wedding and she's lost her ring - but he's reaching inside his coat, to the little inside pocket and by some miracle of miracles, the delicate piece he'd proposed with and married her with rested there.

[Before I broke Tunnel Rat out of his cell, I searched their offices,] his signs were maybe a little wider than warranted, but she appreciated the thought so that she could actually see him in the dark.

Shana O'Hara rubbed the tears off her face with the heel of her hand. Brainwashing had taken its toll.

But then she peeled the glove off of her left hand and when her husband slipped the missing piece of jewelry on her hand, the world that had seemed so bizarre before, with mesmerizing twins and strangely cult-like lights, righted itself. The redhead let out a breath she'd been holding for a few weeks now.

"I love you," she whispered.

He pressed his hand against hers, and she felt that he only had his forefinger, pinky, and thumb extended.

[I love you, too.]

They sat there for a minute longer, holding each other and listening to their partner's breathing, before Scarlett drew back.

"We should start to catch up with the others," she said. Her voice was stronger now, and Snake Eyes felt a rush of relief to hear that strength again.

He nodded, standing and picking up the abandoned bike.

"Duke should have found us a motel by this point," she said behind him, and her hands trailed a little too low to be completely innocent when she clambered onto the bike behind him.

The ninja swatted back at his redheaded wife just before starting the engine again.

[Temptress!]

Her laugh was snatched away by the wind as he raced off to join the Coyote and it's passengers, but the other Joes were the farthest thing from his mind with the prospect of an empty hotel room and a woman that he hadn't touched in far too long sitting in front of him.

* * *

**A/N: That's all for now, folks, but I think this is my longest chapter yet, so hardly "that's all". Thanks for sticking around, even though I kind of low-key abandoned it! Y'all mean the world to me. **


	4. High-Maintenance

**A/N: I liiiive! Started rewatching Renegades during the start of my spring break, so uh...updates? Maybe? This was actually sitting half finished in my google drive. Sorry 'bout that. New content (also featuring on Return of the Arashikage because there's just _so much_) soon!**

* * *

After getting acquainted with Jinx, the others set out to explore the area. Scarlett knew it well enough - she'd trained a little here, after all - and lagged behind. They were all headed off in their different directions, and no one seemed to notice the red head sticking around the cabin. Jinx was sulking somewhere, so Snake Eyes grabbed her hand and pulled her close. They hadn't had too much time to be alone since this started. Living in a truck with 4 other guys tended to do that to you.

But now they did, and she breathed a sigh of relief against his neck. He'd pulled her into his sparsely decorated room, and Scarlett noticed he'd left the door open.

He had a habit of doing that.

She shut it with her foot, and the noise seemed to snap Snakes into a different mood. He pulled his visor off and set it in the small wardrobe. A long coat was hanging there - she should probably shed her jacket as well. Scarlett peeled it off and hung it next to his.

When she looked back, he was hesitating at the edge of the mask.

"You know I don't care," she told him for the thousandth time. They went through this everytime he stripped the covering off.

[I do not want you to have to see-]  
"Snakes. I don't care."

That seemed to end the discussion - it usually did - and he sighed heavily before taking the cloth mask off and crossing the room to set it on the nightstand. Scarlett was behind him, but she sat on his bed - their bed, now, she supposed in the small, hyperactive corner of her thoughts - and pulled her feet under her. Snakes was soon to follow, laying across her lap, allowing her fingers to thread through his hair.

It was quiet for a minute before Scarlett remembered that she had a bone to pick with her ninja.

"You didn't have to gas us."  
[Secrecy is a ninja's biggest weapon-]  
"I understand that, but you didn't have to gas us."  
[Shana-]  
"Friends don't gas friends, Snake!"

He stalled a minute before repeating a single sign, looking up to meet her eyes.

"What? Of course they're...oh, you silly, lonely man," she dropped her voice with a fond smile, "Of course they're your friends. Duke might have his panties in a perpetual twist-" she was rewarded with a faint snort - "but of course they're your friends."

He looked contemplative for a long moment, and his eyes were so far away that Scarlett knew he was going far away from where they were. She leaned down and kissed the corner of his mouth, which proved effective in bringing him back to the present.

It twisted into a small smile and she returned it easily. Anything to keep him from disappearing on her. They'd been married for six months to the day today, but Shana O'Hara didn't pretend to know everything about him. She knew everything he could tell her, and the rest would follow as it did.

"So...Jinx? What's the story there?"

He sighed and raked his hand across his face before starting his answer.

[I promised her father I would watch out for her. He's dead now, and the rest of her family...scattered. I'm all she has left. She's - territorial. Her family wasn't too big on outsiders, and I think she has picked up on you being more than a fellow apprentice or even just a teammate and friend.]

It was as complete of an answer as she'd get from the stoic ninja, and she tapped her fingers on his forearm before answering.

"Do you trust her?"  
[Completely. I've known her since she was a little girl.]

"I'm not saying that we just out and tell her but if it comes down to it-"  
[Of course. I will...adjust to the situation as necessary.]

But then he caught her hands and started to pepper them with kisses. This truly was the only major downside to marrying a man who wore a mask - Snake Eyes was a very affectionate man, but no one would know, because the dark cloth in between her and him made it hard for that to translate, sometimes.

She relished in the attention as he trailed upwards.

"Happy six months," she whispered before he claimed her lips again.

* * *

A while later, Snake Eyes would reluctantly slip out and Shana would lay there as she tried to compose herself again.

So it was only a _mildly_ flushed Scarlett that met Jinx on the patio of the ninja cabin. Maybe it was the post-sex haze, maybe it was the mountain atmosphere, maybe it was a solar flare, but Scarlett sucked up her pride and tried to reach out to the younger girl who had known her husband since he was a teenager.

Jinx threw her peace offering back in her face and the redhead had to count to five before she explained herself.

"I've seen how he treats you," Jinx spat, "How he _cares_."

Well, that answered that question.

"...Nah," Scarlett stuttered, losing her trademarked eloquence, "I'm just...high maintenance."

That would have been a good opportunity to tell her, but she couldn't tell that particular secret without Snake Eyes. He was Jinx's master - Jinx didn't know Scarlett from Adam, if anyone was going to tell her, it needed to be him.

"SCARLEEEETT!"

And that was Tunnel Rat, ruining the moment.


	5. Scream, Explain, Apologize (Talk)

**A/N: Long time no see! Aayla and I watched the latter half of Renegades today so, y'know. This isn't the last one just because it's based on the last two episodes though! Plenty more secret marriage SnakeScar shenanigans are on the horizon, no matter how distant. Also, I fudged this one a little more than usualy just because really you can't breeze over a secret this big if you're more than friends. It's a thing. Communication is important, kids. **

"_My daughter - will you watch out for her?"_

Her ears were already ringing, her heart beating too loudly and too quickly - and that was just knowing that Snake Eyes had known her father, had worked for him.

She was a mark. She was a mission. Her father had ensured her life, and Snake Eyes was a bought policy.

Tears burned hot and angry behind her eyes. But the rest of the Joes - the Joes who still didn't know that she and Snakes were involved - were there and she couldn't, wouldn't, cry in front of them. Crying in front of her husband was a little iffy right now, too.

She turned on her heel, glared at the ninja for a solid fifteen seconds, and marched out of her father's lab. Like a dog with its tail between its legs, Snake Eyes followed.

"How hard is it going to be to hide the ninja's body?" Tunnel Rat asked after a minute. Duke frowned.  
"I don't think-"  
"You see her face?"  
"Well, yes, but-"  
"We're hidin' a ninja body, Duke."

* * *

It had been well over a decade since she'd been in this house, but Shana O'Hara didn't forget anything. Especially her childhood home. The ninja followed her into an alcove that was honestly more of a small, doorless room without complaint.

"So you knew my father."

He nodded.

"You knew how he died."

He nodded again.

"He asked you to _protect me?"_

He nodded yet again.

"When were you going to tell me?!"

That wasn't a yes or no answer, but he wasn't sure if she would listen or not. The impatience on her face, though-  
He sighed and lifted his hands.  
[I was looking for the right...moment. If I had told you when I started…]

He trailed off and even Shana knew that her nineteen year old self would have been violent in her opposition.

[And then when I started training you it...I tried so many times and I could never…]  
His hands faltered and fell. Shana's face fell with it.  
He didn't have an answer.

"Would you have told me?" she asked, her voice breaking.  
[Of course. Shana, of course-]  
"Did you start dating me to keep me close?"

Her voice hitched up an octave and the tears that weren't coursing down her face quite yet showed up in the rasp of her voice.

"Were - were you afraid that I was going to leave?"  
_Yes. But not because- _his hands were frozen and she pressed on.  
"Snake Eyes, did you marry me because-"  
[No. No, absolutely not. Shana, I love you-]  
"How do I _know_?"  
[I have never lied to you, Shana, not once-]  
"A lie of ommission isn't the truth!"

She was crying freely now, and Snake Eyes couldn't stop his hands from shaking and he wanted nothing more than to hold her and assure her that he loved her.  
But he'd broken this, and he wasn't sure if he could fix it.

He lifted a hand, a single sign that was also a completely sentence, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.  
"I'm going - I'm going back to the Coyote."

And she left.

* * *

The house blew up behind them as the truck pulled away from the Cobra drones. Shana was still steadfast in ignoring the ninja in the back. He wasn't pushing her, but the rest of the team seemed to sense that something was off.

It was only then that she realized how the two of them revolved around each other, purposefully or not.

She burrowed further into her seat. She would not cry in front of the rest of the Joes.

* * *

Regardless of the state of their marriage, no one worked together better than Snake Eyes and Scarlett. So of course they paired off to infiltrate the main lab in the facility. This was everything she'd worked for; nothing would stop her from bringing down Cobra at this point. Nothing.

So they didn't really talk, working in silent tandem like a well oiled machine. Even after breaking in, getting caught -

It was killing her, but not a word could...a word could…  
"The safe is the code," she breathed. She had no idea what the code was for - something with the MASS device - but she was sure that her father's safe was the same code.  
There wasn't time to talk or analyze - only time to jump because of course they had a bioviper onslaught headed towards them. What else would they have?

Even as her mind opened for combat, the fear of dying with this unresolved between her and her ninja gripped its icy fingers around her throat.

It almost wasn't surprising that they ended up back to back. What was surprising was how quickly they were overwhelmed. Back to back, Shana knew that she was probably two minutes from death.

It kind of put everything in perspective, so she reached back-

* * *

Snake Eyes was determined to give his wife all the space she needed. Shana's temper ran hot and bright but they'd be able to talk about it when she cooled off. He'd explain himself and she'd scream and they'd talk and they'd heal. Just as long as he didn't burn any bridges before then.

Or as long as they didn't die by bioviper before then.

Protecting Shana was what he had been doing one way or another since she was nineteen. If he failed her now, when she'd trusted so much to him-  
Let the mark of his clan be burned from his corpse.

He felt her shoulder blade press into his. He felt her hand, searching for his.  
Snake Eyes swallowed around a lump in his throat, meeting her hand with his own. He felt her sign and matched it.

The screaming, explanation, apologizing, and talking would come later. For now, she still loved him. He closed his hand around hers, his index finger, pinky, and thumb extended.

* * *

When it was all said and done, Shana O'Hara kissed her husband in front of everyone. And then she punched him in the shoulder, hard.

**~FIN~**


End file.
